Margaret Carter yesterday officially pulled her hat back out of the ring in the Multnomah County Chair election. Carter told reporters she decided running for office would make it too hard to do her job as deputy director for human services programs at the state Department of Human Services. This week has seen a whirlwind of elections filings for county chair, including an announcement for candidacy by political activist Steve Novick followed by his abrupt withdrawal from the race. The filings were spurred by County Chair Ted Wheeler's appointment to the state treasurer's office in the wake of Treasurer Ben Westlund's death from cancer last weekend. Today is Wheeler's last day in office, and the Multnomah County Commission is expected to appoint his replacement at their regularly-scheduled meeting. The county chair's primary race has now settled down to include Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen, insurance agent Mike Darger and retired merchant marine Wes Soderback.